Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)

• Piano quintet f-moll op. 34

Dimitri Schostakowitsch (1906–1975)

• Excerpts from the puppet dances

Highest virtuosity and poetic depth: audiences and press alike appreciate the fact that Anna Vinnitskaya is not only able to set off spectacular fireworks, but also knows how to paint great paintings. Her technical brilliance is never a virtuoso end in itself, but always a means of expression. Anna Vinnitskaya's piano playing is characterized by creative power and tonal nuance, unconditionality and energy.

The 1st prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels in 2007 marked Anna Vinnitskaya's international breakthrough. Her debuts with top international orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Munich Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, to name but a few, led to immediate re-invitations. In summer 2021, she was a soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of chief conductor Kirill Petrenko on the orchestra's festival tour to Salzburg, Lucerne and Paris. More recently, she has been a resident artist with the Dresden Philharmonic at the invitation of Marek Janowski, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. She is a valued partner of leading conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Krzysztof Urbański, Alan Gilbert, Kirill Petrenko and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Piano recitals regularly take her to major concert halls in Berlin, Cologne, Essen, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Munich, Hamburg, Vienna, Paris, Florence, Tokyo and Berlin.

In the 2023/24 season, Anna Vinnitskaya will make her first guest appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Joana Mallwitz.Another collaboration with Iván Fischer will take her to the Budapest Festival Orchestra, with whom she will also perform in China for the first time.Another highlight is the cyclical performance of Sergei Rachmaninov's piano concertos at the Elb­philharmonie Hamburg alongside the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in the fall of 2023. The Flagey in Brussels has entrusted Anna Vinnitskaya with the conception of the Piano Days 2024, putting this piano festival in the hands of a female curator for the first time.As "Artist-in-Residence" of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, she will work with Antonello Manacorda and will also lead the ensemble from the piano in a program of piano concertos by Bach and Shostakovich.

The Brahms Ensemble Berlin, which consists exclusively of string players from the Berliner Philharmoniker, introduces itself to its audience in 2010: Rachel Schmidt & Raimar Orlovsky (violin), Matthew Hunter & Julia Gartemann (viola) and Christoph Igelbrink (cello).

"The Berliner Philharmoniker share a unique affinity with the music of Johannes Brahms," a critic once wrote for the New York Times after a performance by the "Berliners" at Carnegie Hall. Following this tradition, the Brahms Ensemble feels closely connected and places the great ­music repertoire of Johannes Brahms at the center of its program­conception. Not only the string works (sextets, quintets and quartets) but also the works with piano (trios, quartets, quintet) or the clarinet quintet, for example, will play a central role. The ensemble has previously performed with Lise De Lasalle, Anna Vinnitskaya and Martin Helmchen (piano), Andreas Ottensamer and Karl-Heinz Steffens (clarinet) and Radek Baborak (horn) as chamber­music­partners.

For the "Berliners", Johannes Brahms is certainly the composer around whom everything revolves. Nevertheless, the six musicians also associate Brahms' music with composers such as Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy and Robert Schumann.

The Brahms Ensemble Berlin is involved in the annual chamber music concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie and regularly performs at the Easter Festival of the Berlin Philharmonic in Baden-Baden. Engagements at home and abroad complete the picture.